Marine Alleges He Was Forced to Watch Gay Porn As Part of Punishment for Failing Test

A British Marine has told a military court he was forced to watch gay porn and masturbate in front of others as punishment for failing a map reading test.

The alleged incidents happened between May and August 2014 at Faslane and Coulport naval bases in Argyll, Scotland.

The marine, who cannot be named for legal reasons, alleges he tried to tell his superior Corporal Danny Foster he would not do it. Foster is said to have replied “you f**king are.”

In another incident, Foster and Corporal Philip Beer are said to have forced a commando to shave off his body hair.

Metro reports:

The marine said: ‘You could be punished for anything starting from just leaving a pen lid on the floor up to operational things like not turning on your radio while on patrol. ‘A senior marine would stand at the front and would ask if there were any integrity shouts – which meant you would own up to a mistake you had made. ‘Then there would be stitch ups, and marines or corporals could stitch each other up and report something someone else had done. ‘On the first occasion, there had been a map reading test which was made too hard and so a number of people failed. ‘We got lined up at the front of the room during family time and the corporals, who were at the back, were talking about what they would make us do. ‘They all laughed when Corporal Foster said we should wank to gay porn.

The Marine continued:

‘The porn was military themed porn, the men had berets on and people were watching us – we were told the last person to ejaculate would get another punishment. ‘I felt disgusted and degraded having to do it, it was massively degrading, I had no power against it; I could not say no.’

RELATED: Posting Private Nude Photos Online Now a Criminal Act in the Navy and Marines

He added that punishments were often decided by rolling two dice, with the numbers relating to punishments on a sheet of paper. There would also be a game of quiz show Deal or No Deal played as part of punishments.

“There was a PowerPoint presentation and the forfeits would be projected onto the wall and others would be holding bits of paper with numbers on,” he said. “On one occasion, I had two [options] left and we would usually get a swap offered by whoever was the banker.

‘Foster knew I had [a punishment called] Django and would not let me swap because he knew I hated it.

‘I had to take the punishment – there was a metal pull-up bar in the gym which you would hang from and be whipped. ‘Corporal Foster was not there when I was whipped, I had to have another marine do it and be my witness. ‘There were different things used to whip you – on this occasion I was whipped with a rubber exercise band and then left hanging there afterwards.’

During cross examination by Foster’s lawyer, the marine added that his time with 43 Commando had led to him developing post traumatic stress disorder.

He added: “I have PTSD due to what happened. That does affect my memory and I try to put what went on out of my mind, but I do remember what happened.”

Foster has denied three counts of ill treatment of a subordinate. The trial continues today.

(Photo: Royal Marines by Defence Images/Will Haigh is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.0)

The post Marine Alleges He Was Forced to Watch Gay Porn As Part of Punishment for Failing Test appeared first on Towleroad.

Marine Alleges He Was Forced to Watch Gay Porn As Part of Punishment for Failing Test

Brits Unveil All-Female Critics Choice Award Shortlist After Five Years Of Male Winners
The Brit Awards has unveiled its shortlist for next year’s Critics Choice prize with an all-female line-up.

Jorja Smith, Mabel and Stefflon Don been identified as ones to watch next year, and one of them will end a five-year run of men scooping the award. 

The trio have been picked out from a longlist of over 100 artists by a team of experts including music editors and heads of music at major radio and music TV stations.

The winner will follow in the footsteps of previous Critics Choice victors Adele (2008), Ellie Goulding (2010), Emeli Sandé (2012), Sam Smith (2014) and Rag’n’Bone Man (2017).

Of being nominated, Jorja Smith said: “It’s an honour to be recognised amongst such incredible emerging talent. 2017 was a very special year and there’s so much more to come from me in 2018!”

Mabel also said: “Being nominated for the Critics Choice award really is a dream come true for me.  So much hard work has gone into getting to this point, so to be acknowledged by something like the BRIT Awards means the world.”

Stefflon Don added: “I am so excited to be nominated for this amazing award. A big shout out to all my fans and dons for their support. 2017 has been lit and I can’t wait for 2018! Mad love to you all.”

Take a listen to some of their tracks below…

Jorja Smith – ‘Teenage Fantasy’

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/brit-awards-critics-choice-shortlist-jorja-smith-mabel-stefflon-don_uk_5a1e9edbe4b0dc52b02a7fa3

How California Is Breaking Down the Gender Binary

A new state law sets a blueprint for the rest of the nation.

www.advocate.com/commentary/2017/11/29/how-california-breaking-down-gender-binary

Predicted Food Trends For 2018

In my own humble opinion, it’s quite ridiculous that food goes in and out of style like velour tracksuits or the thickness of one’s eyebrows.

I never thought in my wildest food dreams that we would live in a world where one minute avocados are considered ‘on trend’ only to be replaced by pickled carrots the moment we turn a blind eye.

Who makes these decisions? Is there an annual boardroom meeting (if so, where’s my invite?) where culinary royalty sit down over a glass of something fashionably delicious to govern what the public will loathe and love in the coming year? It will never cease to amaze me how kale can go virtually unheard of one century and then out of nowhere it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread (debatable). Genuine question; where had kale been hiding before we plucked it from obscurity?

I’ve done my research and this is what I have discovered; 2017 was the year of Great British Food. From scrambled eggs to fancy fry-ups; we were loving the modernised take on British food made with British ingredients from British producers and farmers. It was all very patriotic. Brunch came back with a vengeance – I like to liken it to Gary Barlow’s revival after a 10-year hiatus – powerful, seductive and mysterious.

Another 2017 trend; vegetarian options featured heavily on menus with kimchi and sauerkraut taking centre stage. It won’t have gone unnoticed how restaurants began catering towards those with allergies; paving the way for gluten-free options and vegan-friendly dishes.

It’s so mainstream to be ‘suffering’ from a food allergy. I, myself suffer from them all. I’m very Spring/Summer 2017. I like to pair my intolerances with a side dish of self-pity.

Poke, the Hawaiian speciality, was Miss Popular this year. A safe option for the health-conscious. However, it’s popularity will cease to be as people have begun to realise that it’s nothing more than sushi in a bowl. And it’s overpriced. It’s also not filling and as pretty as it is, it’s only Instagrammable once.

Here are some food predictions for 2018; a stratospherical rise in gut-friendly dishes and anti-inflammatory ingredients – queue turmeric, edible clays and mushroom tea- all of which are on the brink of making a grand Liza Minelli showbiz style entrance.

Shakshuka – a middle eastern dish consisting of perfectly poached eggs, immersed in a comforting fiery fiesta of tomato, onion and pepper sauce is soon to be featuring on many a food menu. It’s a war on the taste buds and it’s about to enter our lives and our tummies in full force. In general, Syrian and Israeli influences are about to take over just like Royal Wedding Number 2.

Finally, Filipino ‘adobo’ and ‘bagoong’ is soon to be a thing. I haven’t Googled. No idea. I’m sure we’ll be Instagramming it by April.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/predicted-food-trends-for-2018_uk_5a1d7c3ce4b09413e786af2a

How To Help New Parents At Risk Of Postnatal Depression

On the back of a BBC report that stated that “More than a third of mothers have experienced mental health issues related to parenthood” and “17% of fathers had experienced similar issues”, I thought I’d do a post trying to give advice on ways someone can help a person who they feel may be at risk of postnatal depression.

How You Can Help

Before I start, I will say that it’s actually quite tough to give out advice blindly like this. I don’t know anything about the situation in which you find yourself. I also don’t know who’s asking for advice. It could be a wife seeking help for her husband, a parent seeking help for her daughter, or a simply a friend concerned about a couple who might be struggling. Nonetheless, I will try my best to give some broad advice that may be applicable across the board.

Talk About It

There’s a very good chance that if someone is suffering from postnatal depression they won’t really want to talk about it. Depression in general is often a hidden illness, and as such, it often goes unnoticed. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing we can do to help someone. For a start, you have to try and open the dialogue up and talk about how they’re feeling. It’s going to be incredibly tough to get someone to open up enough where they might start talking about depression, especially when it may involve holding negative feelings towards their newborn, but you have to try. Talking about it is the first step to getting better, and if you can encourage it, then you’ve done a lot to help.

Don’t Judge the Emotions

When they do start to talk, try not to judge any of the emotions they talk about. No one wants to be depressed. And certainly no one wants to dislike their baby. Appreciate that the person doesn’t have any control over how they are feeling, and that this depression isn’t them. My wife found this incredibly hard; she was often frustrated that not only did I not love Isabelle, but I really disliked her. But she tried to understand that I couldn’t help it. It’s not easy, but if you make them feel bad for not having an emotion they have no control over, then you’re going to introduce guilt into this mess, and that will only make things worse.

Visiting

For those out there that aren’t directly involved with the baby, I’m talking about friends and family, then chances are you’re going to be visiting. Many people think they help out new couples merely by popping by to see them. But if done wrongly, this can make matters worse. What visiting can sometimes do is put pressure on the new parents to play hosts. Often visitors will come, steal away precious bonding moments by taking the sleeping baby away from the mother or father and pursue to use the baby as a accessory to take their pictures, only to then leave once the baby has aroused and requires feeding. I’m not saying don’t visit a new couple, I’m saying be mindful when you do. Don’t jump straight into holding the baby. Make your own tea and coffee, maybe clean up a little whilst you do. Perhaps you could bring food with you, and then maybe you could take a picture of this new family all together. I know visiting had a negative affect on me at times, and part of it came from some of the things I just mentioned.

The BBC also stated that:

“15% of mothers and a quarter of fathers say they didn’t receive any emotional support for their parenting at all. This is despite a growing understanding that postpartum depression affects men as well as women.”

So be there to help both parents. Don’t ignore the father and assume he’s coping too; actually ask him if he’s bonding with the baby, and if he’s coping with this drastic life change. Throughout the vast majority of human history we’ve had help from a community of sorts in raising babies, modern day should be no different.

If you want a few more suggestions on ways to help, then here’s a post about five ways to help.

If You Feel That You May Have Postnatal Depression

If you happen to feel that you’re suffering from postnatal depression, then perhaps you’ve already made a step in the right direction. The mere fact that you’re reading this implies that you’re looking for advice on ways to help, and everything starts from being willing to help yourself. Someone can try everything they can think of to help someone, but if the person isn’t ready to help themselves, you’re going to have a hard time.

I do have a video about ways to help with postnatal depression that you can watch here:

I’ve also made a toolkit for those looking for more advice on ways to help, which can be found here.

Thank you for reading this, and if you want to keep up-to-date with anything that I post or talk about, then feel free to follow me at the usual social links: Facebookand Twitter or the website.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/how-to-help-new-parents-at-risk-of-postnatal-depression_uk_5a1d8baae4b09413e786af52

Gay Conservative Arrested at University of Connecticut Speech

Lucian Wintrich, speaking on “It’s OK to Be White,” was arrested after leaving the stage and grabbing a woman in the crowd.

www.advocate.com/media/2017/11/28/gay-conservative-arrested-university-connecticut-speech